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These are so bad, they’re good… Ads you’ll never see again.

Former Channel Ten colleague and news librarian John Fife – a man famous for his wicked sense of humour and dry wit – just sent through a wonderful collection of old and now completely politically INCORRECT ads from yesteryear that I just had to share with you. It’s the end of the week after all and time for a few Friday funnies to give us all a laugh.

Not on ANY woman’s Christmas list…

Really???? Kenwood, what were you thinking???

Special vitamins for the little lady… puh-lease…

More slavery disguised as presents… Yes, I AM crying.

Of course, such sexist advertising now seems hilarious. Or frightening. Perhaps both. At least we can sigh with relief that those days are now well and truly gone and we can look at how far we’ve come.

Then there are ads which show how much our use of language and medication has changed…

Bon voyage!

Cocaine toothache drops?

As for smoking ads, well, if only they knew then what we knew today. Or did they?

Doctors know best…

Yeah, we get the double entendre… TACKY!

Carpe Diem…

But my favourite of all is this one…

Cola for babies

Read the fine print. We’re being told that the EARLIER babies drink sugar-laden chemically filled soft drinks, like COLA, the more likely they are to find social acceptance among their peers… This, from the SODA POP BOARD OF AMERICA!!! It’s a wonder babies from that era survived.

And speaking of survival, it’s this kind of advertising that leaves me speechless…

Go on… spoil yourself.

Makes you wonder what the next generation will think of our ads today. No doubt there’ll be a MAD MEN TV series from the year 2000, documenting our frightful, Neanderthal ways. For now, I like looking back and feeling smug that society is a little more tolerant, a little less sexist and a whole lot healthier than way back then. Phew.